Heineken has to Pay 26.7 Million to a Greek Micro-Brewery but Why?
Close to a month ago i made another post about Heineken. In that post, i was mentioning that Heineken had a loss of 200 million in 2020 and they decided to fire 10% of their total workforce which translates to 8000-8500 people, which is a lot if you ask me.
Now another loss for the company as they need to pay 26.7 million to a Greek Micro Brewery but to tell you the truth as a Greek i am happy about that. Let me explain to you though what's the case.
In Greece and in Athens in particular, we got a big brewery called the Athenian Brewery and 98.9% of the Brewery belongs to Heineken. Greece is also known for the many microbreweries that it has with its unique beers.
One of them that is called Macedonian Thrace Brewery with its signature beer being Vergina had accused Heineken many years ago of unprofessional tactics.
The Hellenic Competition Commission which was research the claim for over 12 years along with the Court of Amsterdam, declared Heineken guilty and that they need to pay 26.7 million to the Macedonian Thrace Brewery.
But for what exactly did Heikenen accused of?
Apparently, Heineken, which had some of the most known beers in Greece like Alpha, Amster and Heineken they used illegal methods and strategies that would cast out all of their competitors.
They would cut off the distribution channels of every type you can imagine creating a "cartel" that would basically destroy each and everyone else that would sell beer.
Allow me to explain with an example. Let's say you got a hotel, Heineken would come and told you to sell only their beers otherwise they will never distribute you any. Then the hotel was basically forced to sell their beers and any other microbreweries or breweries were left outside the game.
Heineken had also troubles like this in the past as they were also forced to pay 200 million for a beer cartel in the Netherlands that they basically deciding about the increase or decrease on the prices as well as the above that was happening in Greece.
The Persistent Mr. Politopoulos
Mister Politopoulos is the man behind the wheel of the Microbrewery that earned the money. He was the first that went against Heineken while they had over 90% of the total market back in the days.
Many made fun of him and many didn't believe in what he was saying. With his persistence though after so many years, he managed to win the case and he now has 6% of the total market while the Athenian Brewery dropped to 70%
A Few Extra Words
I am really happy that people like him are winning battles like that. It's a glimpse of hope in these dark days. I don't know whether Heineken will have an impact on this because of the so much profits they got but it's something.
Most likely this will may hurt because they need to pay in the Covid crisis but i don't know what their lawyers will achieve and how long they will take an extension for the payment or such.
Also, regarding the impact i don't think the average joe will stop buying Heineken, i will but still, they got so many beers under their name that you may be buying one of theirs without even realizing.
At the very least the money will go to a good company and i hope that Mr. Politopoulos will reinvest them there and grow his business and employees!
What are your thoughts about it?
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